Organic electroluminescent elements have heretofore been developed for use as a display. The organic electroluminescent element to be used as a display is required to have high precision and minuteness in patterning, uniformity in a light-emitting surface and precision in the edge of a light-emitting surface. The organic electroluminescent element is also required to solve such problems by a minute short-circuit occurring at an edge of an electrode, thereby causing cross talk in a display. There is known an element in which a sealing plate is clad to a substrate for the purpose of sealing an organic EL element. The sealing plate has the tendency to be thinner, as a display is required to be thinner, that is, minimized in thickness.
However, a thin sealing plate results in a problem that the sealing plate is brought into contact with an element by impact or external pressure with the result that the plate is destroyed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.250583/1991 ( Hei-3) discloses an organic EL element which is equipped with an interlaminar insulating film, and thus has favorable pattern precision as well as high uniformity in a light-emitting surface. However, since a masking vapor deposition method is applied to the production of a counter electrode, it has been still difficult to produce a highly precise and minute display having a line pitch of 300 .mu.m or less.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.101884/1993 (Hei-5) discloses an organic EL element which is equipped with an inter-insulator layer, and the outside surface of which is covered with a moisture-resistant film. Nevertheless the organic EL element thus disclosed has still a problem that because of the insufficient sealing power of the moisture-resistant film, a cathode is attacked by moisture or oxygen after being allowed to stand for several thousands hours, thus bringing about a dark spot, that is, defective light emission.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 275172/1993(Hei-5) discloses a highly precise and minute display having a line pitch of about 100 .mu.m , by equipping an organic EL element with an inter-insulator layer in the form of a wall, and also forming a cathode by means of oblique vapor deposition. However, the display disclosed above has still the problem that a minute short circuit is caused by reason of the deviation of the alloy composition in the edges (the end away from the inter-insulator layer) of the electrode that is formed through vapor deposition in an oblique direction to the substrate.